Venezia

Venice is a beautiful city when it isn’t over crowded with. In the early morning in front of the Hotel Messner the locals are out avoiding the tourists and the heat that will emerge later in the day. They are so quiet going through the city the only sound that you can hear is the seagulls flying above your head. From my side of the lagoon I can see all of the old buildings across the street. They are all made of an orange or reddish stucco type material with stone foundations. There is an uneven sidewalk

that juts out from the houses about 5 feet wide ending with a very old hand rail covered with rust to the bottom until it turns into the stonewall. Where the stonewall meets the lagoon there is a constantly moving layer of seaweed and moss. In the water you can see very distorted reflections so that onlookers have a curious compulsion to look at the images’ originator. Along the edges of the narrow lagoon that runs through the city are boats that are lined up covered waiting for their owners to come and claim them. In the morning the heat is tolerable almost comfortable and has not yet reached the stifling heat that it does in the afternoon (it got up to 105°F that day). Being on the Adriatic Sea Venice has thick air weighed down with water. The air carried the smell of the salty, fishy seawater that surrounded the city in combination with the smell of old bricks. It was surprisingly pleasant.

The locals are fascinating to watch because they have two completely different personalities. On the sidewalks around town they dress in typical Italian fashion – long linen pants for the men and loose fitting cotton dresses for the women everyone looking like they walked off the runway. They are very quiet not even their feet make noise and they walk quickly and knowingly through the winding streets. They have serious, uninterested expressions. In the water is where the Venetians come alive. They dress in lighter boating clothing that you would see on any American boater. Their faces were less guarded – they were smiling and having fun. When the locals passed each other they would yell across boats to talk to each other. Though I do not speak Italian I could tell that they were greeting each other like they’ve known each other their whole lives (which they probably have) and catching up on the latest news of family members and friends.

Around 9 in the morning, two locals one on the sidewalk and one on his boat in the lagoon were having an animated conversation. They were friends catching up on the gossip of some event that had occurred between a few of their other friends. They had previously made plans to get together later that night and were finalizing the plans – discussing location and who else was coming. Then they excused each other with a greeting I can only assume was “See you soon.” It was very similar to a conversation that two Americans might have if they bumped into each other while running errands at Kroger’s.

While in Venice I had the opportunity to watch a World Cup game, Ghana vs. Uruguay, with some locals at a bar called Orange. During some of the slower parts of the game, I started to people watch. At first it seemed like I was at an American sports bar watching a game – the teenagers were sitting around a table girls on one side boys on the other with that awkward teenagers in love feeling, there were older men sitting alone most likely because their wife made them go to the bar to watch the game, and they go nuts when something exciting happens yelling at the screen. As a soccer fan I was thrilled that a crowed could get that excited at a game. After taking a closer look I could really notice the differences. It seems like everyone smokes in Italy and if they don’t they are so used to it that they ignore the odor. In America a non-smoker would loudly complain about a smoker coughing and causing a big fuss. Their clothing is much more conservative than it is in America and they dress so much better – though we were watching a game I did not see a single t-shirt. It looks so effortless for them – there was no fussing over their clothing and everyone looked completely comfortable. Americans are constantly pulling on their clothes, shifting around, and worrying if they wore the right thing. There are no wings, beer, and chips at this bar. They usually have one drink that they drink slowly throughout the game. The servers are terrible compared to American standards. They don’t have to be there to help you for your every need, they don’t come unless called, and they have no problem letting you know when you do something that they don’t like. On the plus side you aren’t supposed to tip as much either. This is something that I will definitely be doing again.